Method for controlling the power consumption in an electronic appliance

ABSTRACT

A method is provided for controlling the power consumption in an electronic appliance which has a data interface suitable for data transmissions, the method involving data transmissions which arise being monitored and registered and the power consumption in the electronic appliance being controlled on the basis of the registered data transmissions which arise. The present invention also provides an electronic appliance which has at least the following elements: a data interface for performing data transmissions, a monitoring unit for monitoring and registering data transmissions which arise, and a control unit, coupled to the monitoring unit, for controlling and setting a power consumption on the basis of the registered data transmissions which arise.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a method for controlling the powerconsumption in an electronic appliance and to a corresponding electronicappliance. In general, it is necessary to minimize the power consumptionby battery-operated or storage-battery-operated electronic appliances.Many electronic appliances, such as computers or PCs (PersonalComputers), laptops, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) or mobiletelephones (mobile phones), have an interface for interchanging ortransmitting data; i.e., a data interface. At the same time, theaddressability, or the ability to use such a data interface fortransmission, must not be impaired, remembering that the powerconsumption has been minimized. In addition, applications which controlthe electronic appliance, such as terminal programs or fax programs inthe case of PC-based applications, need to operate without being matchedto standardized interfaces and protocols.

The present invention thus seeks to provide a method and a correspondingelectronic appliance which can be used to achieve a minimum powerconsumption without impairing the operation of the electronic appliancein doing so.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, a method is provided for controlling the power consumptionin an electronic appliance which has a data interface which is suitablefor data transmissions, the method involving data transmissions whicharise being monitored and registered and a power consumption in theelectronic appliance being controlled on the basis of the registereddata transmissions which arise.

As such, in accordance with the present invention, the power consumptionwithin the electronic appliance is controlled using the volume of datain the electronic appliance.

It is known that a data interface provided in electronic appliances,such as in mobile radios, is not active when the electronic appliance isin a provided power-saving mode. [Conversely, this results in thepower-saving mode in the electronic appliance is permanently exited whenthe data interface has contact made with it or is activated.] Thus, oncethe data interface has been activated, the electronic appliance being nolonger automatically reset to the power-saving mode even after thetermination of a data transmission, but rather remains in the state ormode which it adopted when the data interface was active. In the case ofmobile telephones, for example, this results in up to six times thepower consumption without data transmission. To date, the power-savingmode can be controlled only using special commands. According to GSMspecification 3GPP TS 07.07 V7.7.0 (2001-12), a command called “AT+CFUN”disables the data interface in the electronic appliance and switches tothe power-saving mode. Another change is that the presence of a cableconnection is detected by the appliance using control lines. While thecable connection exists, the power-saving mode is exited and is resumedonly when the data cable is removed; that is, when the cable connectionis interrupted.

There is also a known method for controlling the power consumption in acomputer, where the computer includes a data interface (a keyboard), amonitoring unit for monitoring and registering data (input controller)and a control unit, coupled to the monitoring unit, for controlling thepower consumption. If the data interface is not transmitting any data(the user does not register any text), the control unit automatically(after a period of time) puts the computer into a power-saving mode. Thepower-saving mode is exited when the user presses a button.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,018,232 discloses a computer having a receiver forreceiving paging messages. The computer is, first of all, in a sleepmode. When the paging message has been received, the computer isswitched to a standby state. Depending on the content of the pagingmessage, certain programs automatically can be started in the computer'smain processor.

US 2002/0035702 A1 discloses a method for automatically waking up acomputer which includes a modem, the computer initially being in apower-saving mode (suspend mode). When the modem receives a firstsignal, it sends a wake-up signal to the computer. The computer is nowin a standby state. The modem now sends a second signal (e.g. anincoming fax) to the computer.

In line with the present invention, mechanisms which are now introducedfor data flow control within an electronic appliance are used to controla power consumption within the electronic appliance.

In one preferred embodiment of the inventive method, the datatransmissions which arise are monitored and registered using controllines. Control lines are signal lines which indicate to a remote stationinvolved in the data transmission that the appliance can receive furtherdata. If the electronic appliance is a GSM module, the data interfaceprovided therein is in the form of a serial interface with control linesand is called an RS232 interface. For the RS232 interface, a controlline of this type is known, by way of example, by the name “Clear toSend” (CTS), and for a printer interface it is known by the name“Acknowledge” (ACK).

In another preferred embodiment of the inventive method, data flowcontrol is brought into action by commands, such as by controlcharacters Xon/Xoff, which are contained in the datastream. This is alsocalled software flow control.

Also in accordance with the present invention, data flow control ormonitoring and registering of the data transmissions which arise withinthe electronic appliance allows an application to use the datainterface, or to transmit data via this data interface, cyclically. Assuch, the data interface is activated or can be addressed cyclically andis deactivated or can no longer be addressed only at the time at whichthe end of the data transmissions is registered.

Preferably, there is a power-saving mode into which the electronicappliance is put when no data transmissions are registered as arisingand which the electronic appliance exits when data transmissions areregistered as arising.

With particular preference, the electronic appliance is put into and/ortaken out of the power-saving mode automatically. While the datainterface is being used, the power-saving mode is exited. As soon as avolume of data is no longer detected or registered, the electronicappliance automatically reverts to the power-saving mode.

One advantage of the present invention is that two independent methodswhich were originally introduced separately to an electronic appliance,namely a power-saving technology and data flow control, are effectivelycoupled to one another, within an electronic appliance such that apower-saving method which is controlled by the volume of data within theelectronic appliance has been developed.

In addition, the present invention provides an electronic appliancewhich has at least the following elements:

a data interface for performing data transmissions;

monitoring unit for monitoring and registering data transmissions whicharise; and

a control unit, coupled to the monitoring unit, for controlling andsetting a power consumption on the basis of the registered datatransmissions which arise.

Preferably, the data interface is in the form of an interface withcontrol lines.

In another preferred embodiment of the inventive electronic appliance,the electronic appliance is a GSM module.

In addition, a power-saving mode is preferably provided in the inventiveelectronic appliance. If the electronic appliance is in thispower-saving mode, then the power consumption is at a minimum.

In a GSM module, the data interface provided therein is in the form of aserial interface with control lines. This interface is known by the nameRS232 interface.

In the case of a GSM module, the data interface is provided cyclicallyon the basis of a “GSM paging cycle.” The term “paging” involves an itemof information for transmission from a base station in a mobile radionetwork, which information needs to be communicated to the individualmobile stations as an item of system-specific information. In this case,the mobile radio network prescribes a period duration in which the GSMmodule can fetch information from the mobile radio network. The GSMmodule therefore exits in the state with the lowest power consumptionfor a short time. In addition, a control line, a “Clear to Send” (CTS)control line, is used to signal to an application that the datainterface is ready to transmit data. If events with a mobile terminationare involved, for example, such as SMS or call setup, the GSM moduleautomatically exits the state with the lowest power consumption (thepower-saving mode), signals this using the control line “Clear to Send”(CTS) and, after the event, reverts to the old state (i.e., to thepower-saving mode), unless the application sends data to the GSM modulewhile the control line CTS is set. If this is the case, the GSM moduledoes not adopt the state with the lowest power consumption until no moredata are being received and a settable time, such as 2 seconds, haselapsed. In this case, the application requires no activities oradjustments; that is, the GSM module's power-saving mode need neither berestarted nor exited using commands or control lines.

Additional features and advantages of the present invention aredescribed in, and will be apparent from, the following DetailedDescription of the Invention and the Figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 shows a schematic illustration of the flow of one embodiment ofthe inventive method.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows the flow of an embodiment of the inventive method for a GSMmodule. It shows the timing of a GSM paging cycle. As already described,the term “Paging” involves an item of information for transmission froma base station in a mobile radio network which information iscommunicated to the GSM module as system-specific information in theform of a “Paging Message” using a period duration of 2.12 seconds whichis prescribed by the mobile radio network. The top portion of FIG. 1shows the periodic transmission of the “Paging Message” in the form of aperiodic square-wave signal. The bottom region shows a correspondingtime profile for the enabling or addressability of a data interface inthe GSM module, linked to a corresponding power consumption state.Looking at the timing in FIG. 1 from left to right, information is thuscommunicated to the GSM module using a first “Paging Message.” In thiscase, the data interface in the GSM module is enabled and the GSM moduleexits in the state with the lowest power consumption (i.e., thepower-saving mode) and changes to a type of standby state with a higherpower consumption, which in this case is shown in light grey shading. Atthe same time, a control line, namely a “Clear to Send” (CTS) controlline, is used to signal to an application that the data interface in theGSM module is ready to transmit data. In the present example, anapplication (not shown here) then sends data to the data interface. Thestart of the transmitted data is called the “1^(st) character” in thiscase, and the end is called the “Last character.” On account of this,the data interface will remain in the standby state for a longer time.Only when no more data are being received and a settable time, in thiscase 2 seconds, has elapsed does the GSM module readopt the state withthe lowest power consumption (i.e., the power-saving mode) which isshown in dark shading in this case. When another “Paging Message” issent by the base station, the GSM module exits the power-saving mode fora short time, in this case 20 ms, and will revert to the power-savingmode again when no further data are being sent by an application. Inthis case, a short relaxation time of approximately 5 ms elapses again.An application requires no adjustments.

Although the present invention has been described with reference tospecific embodiments, those of skill in the art will recognize thatchanges may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scopeof the present invention as set forth in the hereafter appended claims.

1-5. (canceled)
 6. A method for controlling power consumption in anelectronic appliance which has a data interface suitable for datatransmission, the method comprising: providing that the electronicappliance automatically turn itself on cyclically to a standby state;signaling to an application, in connection with the turning-on of thestandby state in the electronic appliance, that the data interface hasbeen enabled for data transmission; registering data transmissions, viathe electronic appliance, from the application via the data interface;and automatically turning on a power-saving mode in the electronicappliance when no data transmissions from the application via the datainterface are registered.
 7. A method for controlling power consumptionin an electronic appliance as claimed in claim 6, wherein thepower-saving mode is not turned on after the electronic appliance hasnot registered any data transmissions via the data interface until aftera time which can be predetermined in the electronic appliance haselapsed.
 8. An electronic appliance, comprising: a data interface forperforming data transmissions; parts for automatically turning on astandby state in the electronic appliance cyclically; parts forconnecting the turning-on of the standby state in the electronicappliance to the signaling to an application that the data interface hasbeen enabled for data transmission; parts for registering datatransmissions by the application via the data interface; and parts forautomatically turning on a power-saving mode in the electronic appliancewhen no data transmissions from the application via the data interfaceare registered.
 9. An electronic appliance as claimed in claim 8,wherein the electronic appliance is a GSM module.
 10. An electronicappliance as claimed in claim 8, wherein the power-saving mode isprovided as a state with a lowest power consumption.